Pollo Campero, a global quick-service restaurant chain, is building a new eatery in Huntington, replacing a shuttered Dairy Queen.
The fast-growing brand leased the 3,600-square-foot restaurant building with a drive-thru on .80 acres at 321 West Jericho Turnpike, where it is investing in extensive renovations to the site where a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill closed in July 2023.
"The brand's goal throughout the country is to focus on drive-thru opportunities, which is one of the reasons they liked this site," said broker Ryan Feldman of Alliance Retail Development, who exclusively represents Pollo Campero throughout Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
The new Huntington restaurant will be the chain's seventh on Long Island, following others in Bay Shore, Central Islip, Hempstead, Huntington Station, Lawrence and Merrick, where Pollo Campero opened a newly built 2,250-square-foot restaurant on .52 acres at 1808 Sunrise Highway in Nov. 2024.
"The four legacy stores in Central Islip, Bay Shore, Hempstead and Huntington Station, have all been very strong performing stores for the brand," Feldman told LIBN. "Based on that strong performance, there's an eagerness to bring the brand to new customers."
Founded in Guatemala in 1971, Pollo Campero now has nearly 400 stores worldwide, including more than 100 U.S. locations throughout 20 states. Sometimes called the "Central American Chick-fil-A," Pollo Campero International, a division of multi-national conglomerate Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI), is headquartered in Dallas.
The Pollo Campero menu features fried chicken, sandwiches, salads, empanadas and bowls, with side dishes that include macaroni and cheese, Campero rice, Campero beans, French fries, Yuca fries and sweet plantains.
Feldman said the company is actively looking for additional Long Island sites between .50 and 1 acre and ideally those with drive-thrus that were formerly occupied by QSRs in high-trafficked areas. The chain also took over a closed Dairy Queen site on Forest Avenue in Staten Island recently as part of its ongoing New York-area expansion.